India, November 2, 2026: ‘Aakhri Ride’: How Vijesh Rajan and Yashoda Parthasarthy crafted a quirky horror short. The Hindu reported the development in a detailed account.

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Data Point Decoding the headlines with facts, figures, and numbers THEdge At the cutting edge of education and careers Health Matters Ramya Kannan writes to you on getting to good health, and staying there The Hindu On Books Books of the week, reviews, excerpts, new titles and features. Vijesh Rajan, Yashoda Parthasarthy and the poster of ‘Aakhri Ride’ | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement Horror takes on a completely new meaning in the short film, Aakhri Ride. Released on Halloween’s eve on the YouTube channel Oh Short Flips, the 24-minute film is about a desperate migrant cab driver, Aman, who is struggling to make ends meet in Mumbai.

Forced to work endlessly to secure money for his sister’s wedding, Aman has to deal with his abusive boss on a fateful night when a mysterious passenger further adds to his problems. The real horror Aman faces is far removed from the supernatural. He lives through hell every day on Mumbai streets, with only his car to call home.

The short film, helmed by Vijesh Rajan and Yashoda Parthasarthy, has a cheeky subversion in its tone. The two got the idea of a cab-driver protagonist during their long cab rides from work. During these rides, Vijesh and Yashoda often discussed different ideas.

“ Aakhri Ride was born out of observing the cab driver sitting in front, who is lost in his own world, getting different phone calls. He was tackling his own crises while we would sit in luxury. The contrast was striking,” says Yashoda.

Before Aakhri Ride , Vijesh and Yashoda pitched feature films and shows for five years, and that journey had its share of rejections. “We wanted to get into writing and direction, but nothing was working out,” says Vijesh. That’s when they reached out to their long-time friend, producer Ranjan Singh, who told them to make something and not worry about anything else.

“We took the idea of Aakhri Ride to him, and he was ready to support it. He was like Gandalf walking with us to the end of the world,” adds Vijesh, crediting Ranjan for bringing Anurag Kashyap and Vasan Bala as presenters for the film. Ranjan suggested the duo to make the film first and worry about distribution after.

Being horror film buffs, they wanted to bring those elements into the story, but with their own twist. The writing process involved finding out what would actually scare Aman. His horrors lie in the constant follow-up calls from his boss, his sister’s distressed pleas from his village, and also in the intimidation of cops, who stop his car and take advantage of his powerlessness.

The two spoke with cab drivers while researching for the story. A still from ‘Aakhri Ride’ | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement.

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